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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24283132">ALERT: Attention Required</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryanhasao3/pseuds/ryanhasao3'>ryanhasao3</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood &amp; Manga</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(but there's no tag for that), 520 Day | Edward Elric/Roy Mustang Day, Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, Edward Elric Is A Little Shit, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Post-Canon, Roy Mustang Is Also A Little Shit, RoyEd Month 2020, Teasing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:34:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,029</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24283132</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryanhasao3/pseuds/ryanhasao3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Edward is clever. Actually, Edward is a genius. Roy can appreciate that, better than anyone. Sometimes, though, he doesn't want a genius. Sometimes he just wants some affection from his boyfriend.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Edward Elric/Roy Mustang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>149</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>ALERT: Attention Required</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Happy RoyEd day everyone! Took me long enough to write something for this fandom again and I'm super excited to share this one with you all. I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Roy is not needy. It doesn’t matter what the Lieutenant might insinuate with her knowing looks and raised eyebrows, he is thirty-five years old and he is not a child. He does not need anything or anyone, and he is absolutely not about to get on his knees and beg for a little attention. </p><p>Having said that-</p><p>“Edward?”</p><p>He is also not the kind of person who is ignored, and he is deeply offended by Edward’s implicit suggestion that he is somehow willing to let that slide.</p><p>“Edward!”</p><p>Edward hums under his breath, nose still buried in that godforsaken book and eyes glued to the pages. Crusty, old, moth-eaten pages depicting things he no doubt already knows in that famously enormous brain of his. </p><p>Roy is not a child and he does not need Edward’s attention. He is a grown adult, a man of titled authority, and he will not bow to the whims of a particularly clever twenty-year-old.</p><p>“I was wondering if you wanted a cup of coffee, Edward,” he says, stepping out of the doorway to their library and crossing his arms over his chest. “Since you’ve been in here for so long.”</p><p>A long pause passes, silence refilling the room and the space between them. Edward turns another page, raising his hand to his mouth and chewing on his thumbnail.</p><p>“Edward.”</p><p>“Uh huh, okay,” Edward mumbles, thumb and finger manipulating the flesh of his bottom lip. “Sounds good.”</p><p>Roy’s eyebrows drop low on his forehead in frustration. </p><p>Edward is many things. He is intelligent, and beautiful, and remarkably powerful with or without his alchemy. </p><p>He is also infuriating.</p><p>“I made coffee, Edward,” he repeats, voice a little lower this time. “In the kitchen. Which is a different room in this house.” </p><p>Another page is turned, and Edward doesn’t even make a noise this time.</p><p>“Do you know what different rooms are? Or have you been in here too long?” Roy continues, raising an eyebrow and uncrossing his arms. His hands settle on his hips and for about half a second, he feels like a nagging wife and can’t help but question his own actions.</p><p>Then Edward stands, turns around with the book still in his hands and head still dropped in his concentration. He starts to walk towards Roy, to the bookshelf he’s stood in front of, and finally glances up at the last second.</p><p>Then, because of course he does-</p><p>“Oh, hey, Bastard. How long you been here?”</p><p>“Several minutes,” Roy replies monotonously. “Talking to you. The entire time.”</p><p>“Oh,” he mumbles, reaching over and thumbing through the books on the shelf. “What about?”</p><p>“Coffee. Which I made. In the kitchen.”</p><p>“Oh. Yes, please. Thanks,” Edward says, selecting a tome and pulling it towards him. He drops it on top of the one he’s already holding, flipping it open and snorting. “Shit, these idiots.”</p><p>“Idiots?”</p><p>“Yeah, they won’t stop ranting about this intercultural alchemical translation bullshit. As if there’s equivalencies in the language of different alchemical systems. There’s a reason shit works different in different countries, because there is no equivalency.”</p><p>“But alchemy is about equivalency,” Roy points out. “So if the Xingese use alchemy over long distances with different methods, there has to be a way our alchemy could be used to do the same, right?”</p><p>“No, it doesn’t fucking work like that, dumbass.”</p><p>“But alchemy is about equivalent exchange, so there must be an equivalent method in our version of it.”</p><p>“Yeah, but you can’t just translate it with fancy symbols. The Xingese can use alkahestry over long distances because they mastered the Dragon Pulse as well. We don’t have an equivalent method like that as part of our alchemy.”</p><p>“They don’t have it as part of theirs though, Edward. It’s an additional skill. Maybe there’s an additional alchemical skill that could allow it.”</p><p>Edward snaps his head up with wide eyes and a growing grin on his face. “Shit, Bastard, maybe you have got some use.”</p><p>Roy blinks. Edward raises an eyebrow back at him before leaning up on his toes and pressing his lips to his cheek softly.</p><p>It’s not often when Edward offers such a gentle kind of love and Roy is accustomed to encouraging them as best as he can. But for some unknown reason – possibly the fact he’s been blatantly ignored for the best part of ten minutes, but who is he to say? – he can’t help but find it even more frustrating.</p><p>“Thanks, Bastard,” Edward says over his shoulder, turning around and returning to his desk.</p><p>Roy takes a breath.</p><p>He can’t really help but encourage that genius, especially when he’s on the cusp of something that could be incredible. He himself might be on the verge of true leadership, or ‘world domination’ as Edward likes to joke, but Edward might take that brief debate and turn alchemy as they know it into something entirely new. Without even being able to use the damned thing.</p><p>Edward is incredible, and Roy is the luckiest man in the world to receive even the briefest moments of attention from him.</p><p>He turns around, dropping his eyes as he steps back around the doorway and down the hall towards the kitchen.</p><p>Roy hasn’t done his own alchemical research in a long time – the last project he worked on was shortly after Ishval, when he was searching for any possible distraction. He can’t even remember if he even completed it between all the drinks.</p><p>Would he have time to do that now? Amongst his other responsibilities, his commitments, his goals, would he be able to devote time to research? Would he be able to take time to study and explore and experiment? Will he ever have time?</p><p>He arrives at the kitchen counter and curls his fingers around the handle of the coffee jug, lifting it and reaching for Edward’s favourite mug. It’s blue, with images of grey kittens crawling up the sides. </p><p>If Roy is remembering correctly, Alphonse gave Edward the mug as a gift on his last birthday. He insisted to his face that it was ‘disgustingly adorable, what the fuck, I’m never using that’, but Roy hasn’t seen a day pass without that mug being filled several times over.</p><p>Arms slink around his waist and he jumps in shock, jerking his arm and spilling the coffee over his hand.</p><p>“Fuck!”</p><p>“Shit, sorry, let me-“</p><p>“Edward?” he asks, flicking his eyes to the side as Edward darts around him and reaches to turn the cold water tap on.</p><p>“Get your hand under here, dipshit,” he instructs, grabbing for Roy’s arm and yanking him towards the sink to shove his hand – and half his jacket sleeve – under the stream. </p><p>A few moments of silence pass, and Roy turns his head to glance at the steaming puddle of coffee on the worktop. </p><p>The hand around his wrist loosens slightly. “Sorry,” Edward mumbles, eyes locked on the water. “Didn’t mean to make you jump.”</p><p>A lock of his hair slips out of its hold behind his ear and falls over his eyes, and Roy can’t help but stare. Edward looks up at him from behind it, eyes squinting slightly as his eyebrows furrow. “You look constipated,” he says.</p><p>“How charming of you,” Roy answers sarcastically. Edward snorts, turning back to his hand.</p><p>“Is it feeling any better?” he asks, reaching out and poking the sensitive skin affected by the coffee.</p><p>“Yes, thank you. Why aren’t you in the library?”</p><p>Edward rolls his eyes, reaching out and turning the tap back off. “Nice to know you want me out the way, Bastard.”</p><p>“It’s not-“</p><p>“I’m fucking joking, chill.”</p><p>“’Chill’?”</p><p>“Yeah, chill. It means-“</p><p>“I know what it means.”</p><p>“-calm the fuck down, Roy,” Edward finishes, teeth only just biting back a wide grin. The smile drops slightly, turning into something softer. “Sorry for ignoring you earlier. This shit is exciting as fuck, you know? I get distracted with shit.”</p><p>“I know,” Roy says, smiling back and pulling his hand back to examine the damage.</p><p>The skin on the back of his hand is pink and sensitive, but there probably won’t be any permanent harm. The coffee had been sitting there for a short while and had probably cooled a little.</p><p>He glances up then pauses. Edward is looking at him tentatively, like he’s waiting for an argument. “Really, it’s okay,” he insists, reaching out for him. Edward frowns – really, it’s on the verge of a pout, but he’d never admit it – and Roy lets his palm settle against the hollow under his jaw.</p><p>Edward leans into it, eyes darting to the side aimlessly. “Sorry for being a shitty boyfriend,” he mumbles.</p><p>Roy sighs. “You’re not. You’re incredible. You’re allowed to get distracted by things you’re passionate about, otherwise you wouldn’t be passionate about them. I love you for how obsessed you get just as much as everything else you are.”</p><p>Edward flushes bright red and pulls away, reaching for a cloth to mop up the spilled coffee and burying his face in his shirt. “Shut the fuck up, you sap.”</p><p>“You love it, or you wouldn’t have said yes to moving in with me,” Roy points out, tucking his good hand under his arm and turning to lean back against the counter. He watches Edward move, watches the flush crawling down the back of his neck.</p><p>Edward glances at him and exaggerates a real pout. “Stop staring at me. You’re gross.”</p><p>“Then why are you here?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Roy steps forward until he’s in his personal space, noting the catch of breath as Edward stares up at him. “Why do you stick around if I’m so gross?”</p><p>“Free library,” Edward mumbles, eyes drifting to his lips. Roy can’t help but smirk, and those eyes dart back up to meet his gaze.</p><p>“What’s that?” he whispers, leaning imperceptibly closer.</p><p>“Free library. You collected more shit in your old age than the public one in Central.”</p><p>Roy hums, reaching out and brushing his thumb over a tiny smudge of ink on Edward’s cheekbone. “Yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“So it’s nothing to do with the fact we broke the bed frame last week?” Roy suggests, weaving his fingers into the soft hair curling around Edward’s ears and watching that beautiful blush burn high on his cheeks.</p><p>“Shut the fuck up.”</p><p>“You don’t want that.”</p><p>“Yes, I fucking do! S-stop being- fucking-“ Edward stammers, eyes darting around hyperactively.</p><p>“Stop being what?”</p><p>“You!”</p><p>“Huh, is that really what you want?”</p><p>“Yeah!”</p><p>Roy leans closer, close enough that barely a hair’s breadth of distance exists between their lips. Edward’s breath hitches again, and Roy takes one in slowly. “So you don’t want me to take you apart right here, right now?”</p><p>“N-no,” Edward whispers, voice cracking with the friction generated just by that word.</p><p>
  
</p><p>Roy lets the breath out slowly, and then-</p><p>He pulls back, releasing Edward and reaching around him for the coffee jug to pour a mugful. “There’s your coffee, Edward,” he smiles innocently, handing the mug to him before heading for the door.</p><p>Edward takes it in shaking hands, eyes wide and lips parted. “The fuck?”</p><p>“I’m going to bed, I’ll see you when you’re done with your research.”</p><p>“Roy-“</p><p>“Feel free to join me whenever.”</p><p>“You bastard!”</p><p>Roy grins as he reaches the stairs, listening to the furious noises from the kitchen behind him as he takes each step.</p><p>Finally, with his good hand on the doorknob to the bedroom, arms slink around him yet again, with far more pressure as one formerly-automail hand slips under his waistband.</p><p>“Don’t be a bastard,” Edward snarls, pressing him against the still-closed door and letting his breath ghost the back of his neck.</p><p>Roy chuckles, leaning into the pressure and closing his eyes. “Thank you for finally blessing me with your attention, oh powerful Edward.”</p><p>“Shut the fuck up and get on the bed, Bastard.”</p><p>He grins again, letting the door open as they stumble through the frame.</p><p>At the end of the day, he might not be needy in his everyday life, but Roy definitely needs Edward’s attention. Thankfully, Edward needs him just as much. And nothing could ever ruin that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Art by me! I worked very hard on that haha</p><p>Come chat on <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ryanhasao3">Tumblr</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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